In my role of coordinating security efforts for the district, I have worked to tighten up some of our procedures to ensure consistency in practice AND so you know what to do in the event that a problem happens. A couple of common security issues have come up recently, so I'm posting "what to do" here. As always, please call me at 562-5621 or email me at janina.goodwin@pueblolibrary.org if you have any questions!
Theft of Personal Items
People claim that many items are stolen from them - everything from gloves and earbuds to bikes and laptops. They expect that we will confront the individuals that they are accusing to obtain the stolen items. The problem is - this is a claim - and we don't always have enough evidence. Due to this, please do the following when dealing with a claim that someone had a personal item stolen from them.
1) Tell the person they need to report the theft to the police. They can use the library's courtesy phone, their own phone, or go to the police department to make the report. Library staff does not make these reports for the customers.
2) If the customer wants the police to see if there is video footage, provide my contact info to the customer to give to the police. The customer may not see the footage themselves - I will only provide it to law enforcement with a case #.
3) Complete an incident report with helpful information for me to find the theft on the security cameras such as the victim's description, approximate time, location, description of what was a stolen, description of suspect if available.
4) Please do not tell the customer to come to the library to talk to me on any given date and time - they should contact me using my phone or email if they have any questions. If they come and I am unavailable this will further frustrate them.
Trespassing Customer
When a person who has been suspended re-enters the library, they are trespassing. Please follow the procedures below to address that person and communicate this violation to me.
1) Tell them to leave - or contact a supervisor/PIC and we will - they must leave or we will call the police to report we have a customer who is trespassing and refusing to leave
2) Incident Report documenting time/place the customer was seen
3) I will locate camera footage showing their presence in the library, and save images/footage
4) I will submit a police report online and attach the footage/images and their suspension notice.
Thanks so much!
Janina Goodwin :)
Theft of Personal Items
People claim that many items are stolen from them - everything from gloves and earbuds to bikes and laptops. They expect that we will confront the individuals that they are accusing to obtain the stolen items. The problem is - this is a claim - and we don't always have enough evidence. Due to this, please do the following when dealing with a claim that someone had a personal item stolen from them.
1) Tell the person they need to report the theft to the police. They can use the library's courtesy phone, their own phone, or go to the police department to make the report. Library staff does not make these reports for the customers.
2) If the customer wants the police to see if there is video footage, provide my contact info to the customer to give to the police. The customer may not see the footage themselves - I will only provide it to law enforcement with a case #.
3) Complete an incident report with helpful information for me to find the theft on the security cameras such as the victim's description, approximate time, location, description of what was a stolen, description of suspect if available.
4) Please do not tell the customer to come to the library to talk to me on any given date and time - they should contact me using my phone or email if they have any questions. If they come and I am unavailable this will further frustrate them.
Trespassing Customer
When a person who has been suspended re-enters the library, they are trespassing. Please follow the procedures below to address that person and communicate this violation to me.
1) Tell them to leave - or contact a supervisor/PIC and we will - they must leave or we will call the police to report we have a customer who is trespassing and refusing to leave
2) Incident Report documenting time/place the customer was seen
3) I will locate camera footage showing their presence in the library, and save images/footage
4) I will submit a police report online and attach the footage/images and their suspension notice.
Thanks so much!
Janina Goodwin :)